Vallejo parks to undergo overhaul thanks to new parcel tax

Steve Pressley, Maintenance and Development Manager for GVRD, talks about the Richardson Park pool and building that would be demolished if the recreation district can acquire a downtown property to relocate its corporation yard. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald)

Between facelifts for existing parks and plans to expand others and create still more, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District is gearing up for "a flurry of work this summer," says General Manager Shane McAffee.

Some frugality and about $1 million collected from the Measure K parcel tax passed in April is allowing the district to move forward with some long-stalled projects, he said. Measure K is a six-year, $48-per-household parcel tax.

"We're going to be putting up shade structures in the dog park, painting the (Vallejo) Community Center (on Amador Street) and re-paving the Dan Foley parking lot," McAffee said. "We hope to build two or three new parks/playgrounds to replace existing ones, this summer, also."

Daalwyk Park is likely among those getting a facelift, he said. Others that may be in line for work are Federal Terrace Park, North Vallejo's Setterquist Park, Castlewood Park near Hogan Middle School and central Vallejo's Washington Park, he said.

Longer-term projects in the works include a park in Hiddenbrooke's south end, something residents there have been awaiting nearly a decade, McAffee said. In April, the City Council approved the project, which will be overseen by the city. The park will be operated and maintained by GVRD. The Vallejo City Unified School District owns the site, where a school had been planned. Any future school will abut the park, McAffee said.

"The concept plan is designed and the city has a contractor hired and is working on environmental permits," McAffee said. "Construction should start a year from now."

It was a harder fight than Hiddenbrooke resident Jim Libien said he expected when he embarked on it eight years ago. Now, "delighted with the design and just looking forward to it becoming a reality," Libien said he expects his now 4-month-old grandchild to one day make good use of the new park.

"We need an outdoor place for recreation that will tie into the (existing Bay Trail) and it will be a terrific addition to the community," he said.

Some of the larger planned projects are years away, McAffee said. An example would be the hoped-for expansion of Richardson Park, of which about a third is unusable because of an old storage area and an abandoned swimming pool, he said.

GVRD officials are in discussions with the owners of a property at 1110 Colusa St. that appears to meet the district's needs for replacing its Richardson Park corporation yard, McAffee said. This would be the first step in making a large swath of land available for park use, he said.

"It's been planned out for eight years in the master plan to redevelop that park," he said. "We've had a few Realtors keeping their eyes open and notifying us and we've looked at seven or eight alternatives over the years."

The Colusa Street site, with an asking price of about $800,000, is properly zoned and seems to be the best possibility so far, he said. Funding to buy it would come from the sale of a piece of surplus property, some of the district's reserves and financing.

"Right in the middle of the park is a derelict, condemned pool and a 1940s maintenance building, left over from public housing, with a leaky roof and no restrooms that's keeping the from being as well utilized as it could be," McAffee said. "Our master plan calls for us to make the park better, to redesign it. The first step is to tear those down, once we find a new corp yard."

All that is likely years away, and would first require community input, he said.

"We'd sit down with community members to ascertain their needs and wants for the park," he said. "Now there's a softball field, a grass area, a playground and a parking lot, but anything is possible -- a sports field, playgrounds, gazeboes, shaded picnic structures, bocce ball courts, anything."

Contact staff writer Rachel Raskin-Zrihen at (707) 553-6824 or rzrihen@timesheraldonline.com. Follow her on Twitter at RachelVTH.